Today's Register Guard informs us that due to the recession and budget cuts at the state level, our local school district (4J in the house, mother-effers!) might have to "revisit" union contracts. Of course, the OEA should (and apparently does) have a two-word response to this idea involving the works "fuck" and "you."
What gets my goat is that there is apparently this belief out there that employers, especially state governments, have the right to "revisit," "renegotiate," or "break" a contract with their employees if it becomes convenient for the state to do so. This is, of course, never a two-way street. When the state has "extra" money, employers don't publicly announce that they want to revisit the contract for the purposes of raising wages.
More to the point, a union contract contains risks for both sides. When management agrees to provide raises over a period of some years, then management is making a commitment and taking a risk that in a couple of years the economic situation might be such that it is difficult to met those commitments. The union takes a risk, too. They are taking a guaranteed wage increase (usually) of a certain percentage, with the risk that the economy might render that wage increase meaningless or worse through inflation. This has been happening with some frequency lately, as 4%+ inflation has turned "cost-of-living" raises of 2% or 3% into a wage cut.
I know I live in a fantasy world where people are eager to treat each other with respect, but I really fail to understand where the visceral hate for public employee comes from. It is such that government officials seem to feel free to float the idea of breaking binding contracts because they know that they can demonize the employees that resist. This is how we, the people, treat our employees?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Oh, man. You hit it right on the head. There has not been talks of pay-freezes or any such things, YET, in my district. At the last board meeting, however, the decision was made to cut days from the contract to save money. Even though our grievance officer and local HEA prez were sitting right there shaking their heads emphatically "NO," the board went ahead and ratified that they'd cut days. Our superintendent--who's kind of an asshole--hates our union and was readily dismissive. And really, in the contract language, it's apparent that in order to cut days and stuff like that we need to reopen the contract negotiations, not mandate from on high.
Honestly, if 4j and other districts want to cut in terms of salary, start at the top.
Dear Landlord,
I hope this letter finds you well. Let me start by thanking you for the flowers your office sent over the holidays. We enjoyed the touch of holiday cheer in these dismal economic times.
My purpose in writing you today has to do with those very same economic conditions. As you know, the downturn is affecting everyone and belt-tightening is necessary. We have therefore decided that we will no longer be able to pay the generous rents specified in our lease.
Retroactive to last month, our rent shall be 75% of the negotiated rate. Please remit a refund for the already paid fraction at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
Tenant
BOOM!
Post a Comment